Dictionary of Literary Biography on Arthur Schopenhauer

One of the leading German metaphysicians of the nineteenth century, Arthur Schopenhauer is exceptional in having had a widespread influence outside of philosophy; among his admirers may be counted such figures as Richard Wagner, Friedrich Nietzsche, Tolstoy, and Thomas Mann. Within philosophy itself, Schopenhauer is important for having broken with his Idealist contemporaries both in espousing a down-to-earth materialism and in forsaking philosophic jargon in favor of a limpid and vigorous literary style. He put forward a metaphysics of the will which approached life in concrete terms (his psychological insights often anticipate Freud) and resulted in a pessimistic attitude to the cosmos. Schopenhauer held that there are two ways to combat the tyranny of the will. The first is through art, at its most exalted in music; it is this aspect that entitles him to be thought of as the exemplarily Romantic philosopher, expounding (in Thomas Mann's phrase...